Saint Aloysius's Monastery

Detached five-bay two-storey monastery, built 1892, on a rectangular plan. Vacant, 1901. Occupied, 1911. Closed, 1951. Renovated, ----, to accommodate continued private residential use. Pitched slate roof with roll moulded clay ridge tiles, off-central chimney stack having stringcourse below corbelled stepped capping supporting yellow terracotta pots, lichen-spotted "saddleback" coping to gables on cut-granite "Cavetto" kneelers with Cross finials to apexes, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on rendered eaves. Rendered walls on rendered chamfered plinth. Elliptical-headed off-central door opening with step threshold, and rendered surround with fluted pilasters supporting archivolt framing replacement glazed timber panelled door having sidelights below overlight. Square-headed window openings with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement uPVC casement windows replacing one-over-one timber sash windows. Set in landscaped grounds with roughcast-panelled rendered piers to perimeter having "Cavetto"-detailed pyramidal capping supporting wrought iron double gates.

A monastery representing an important component of the late nineteenth-century built heritage of Ramsgrange. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior: however, the introduction of replacement fittings to the openings has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a monastery making a pleasing visual statement in a chapel village setting.